It is almost unfair to ask more of Omar Abdulrahman. However, his nation will do so as the UAE face Japan in the Asian Cup quarter-finals in Sydney tonight.
In the highest-profile match of his career, the Emirati playmaker needs to have the match of his life.
“I have watched the UAE’s games, and I think he is a wonderful player and European teams are looking at his high-level play,” Japan coach Javier Aguirre said of the UAE No 10.
Aguirre was not exaggerating. Few players have caught the eye in Australia like this most conspicuous of footballers.
He will be under scrutiny like never before from fans, opposing managers and those shadowy foreign scouts who are forever keeping tabs on him as he encounters champions Japan and their international stars such as Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda.
Mahdi Ali’s response to questions about his star have been exercises in understatement. He is a “good” player. We are “happy for him to be here” after his latest injury.
But the coach cannot tamp down all the interest surrounding the focal point of his team’s attack.
Win or lose tonight, one question is unlikely to go away: is Omar Abdulrahman moving to Europe soon?
The 23 year old has been as vague as his manager on the issue.
“There will be time to talk about this later, not now,” he said after he received the man-of-the-match award for his performance against Bahrain last week. He excelled in the 1-0 defeat against Iran, as well.
It is a minor miracle he has played at all in this tournament, considering he did not play for seven weeks ahead of the UAE’s opening match, on January 11.
His previous four appearances, in the Gulf Cup of Nations, came after another long lay-off. He was out for 44 days, between the Asian Champions League loss to Al Hilal on September 30 and the first match of the Gulf Cup on November 14.
He has not played for Al Ain for more than three months, but his seven appearances with the national side have been productive and often riveting.
Mahdi Ali wrapped him in cotton wool between the two tournaments, and there were concerns that he might still not be fit. If he is not, he is hiding it incredibly well.
Rushing a star player back to fitness in time for a major tournament is nothing new. England often seem to be at it: David Beckham in 2002 and Wayne Rooney in 2010, for example. Uruguay did it with Luis Suarez at last summer’s World Cup, and Roberto Baggio played through most of the 1994 World Cup with an injury.
Abdulrahman is equally important to the UAE; he seems to be one of those players who thrive playing for their countries and ultimately become associated far more with their national colours than those of their clubs.
The Romanian Gheorghe Hagi was one, Hristo Stoichkov of Bulgaria another. The Italian duo of Paolo Rossi in 1982 and Salvatore Schillaci in 1990 are strongly linked to their World Cup heroics.
Abdulrahman also has excelled for Al Ain; he has been one of their best players from the day he made his debut against Al Ahli in an Etisalat Cup match in 2009.
His loyalty to Al Ain is unquestioned, and the player would never dream of suggesting he has outgrown the club who nurtured him. But there is also little doubt that his career now seems to be playing out on the international stage.
Fans in Australia and around Asia have swooned over the man nicknamed “Amoory”, and many of them would struggle to identify his club team.
That is not quite fair to Al Ain, but it should be a source of pride for the club to have produced the most recognisable Emirati footballer of this or any generation, even if it means he may leave the nest.
Against Japan, four times Asian Cup champions, his career could be set to soar even higher.
akhaled@thenational.ae
